After coming second by a single point in 2023 and Champion by a single point in 2024, the 2025 Veterans Cup was always going to be another incredibly tight finish. Both Al Gamble & Ian Macgregor had been ahead of me by a couple of points all season, so I needed to win the final round to have any chance of retaining the trophy. Thankfully, the conditions on the day were tough and I was lucky to find some feeding fish whilst Al & Ian and many others struggled, Naturally, I was both surprised and delighted to retain the trophy, especially amongst such a strong field of experienced competition anglers. The icing on the cake was podium domination by the RAF! I fully expect the 2026 Veterans to be equally close, particularly with so many of our members increasing their skill-sets.

I began fly-fishing for Salmon and Sea-Trout on the River Deveron in the mid 70’s when all our Scottish Rivers were full of fish. I then fished competitively from the late 1980s as part of the RAF Fish-Hawks Team until leaving the RAF in 2006, when I following my lifelong dream of becoming a full-time Ghillie on the River Spey. I joined Top Competition team Orvis Alba Flysfishers in 2006 and quickly found out exactly how costly Competition Fishing was without the luxury of RAF accommodation and funding! Alba were a cracking team of International Anglers and we had some impressive results, particularly at Rutland, winning the Lexus International event in 2011.

Having lost out on the Veteran’s Championship by a single point in 2023 to Graeme Ferguson, I was delighted to win the Veterans Cup this year, again by a single point with Jock Kettles snapping on my heels! These close results prove the strength in depth within the Veterans Club and I’m sure that Jock will add his name to the trophy very soon. What made my win even more special was the fact that on every outing of 2024, my boat partner & I had the best boat total, proving that sharing information is the key to success. I look forward very much to the 2025 season and wish you all tight lines.

I have been fly fishing for 34 years and competing in competitions on/off for 27 years. Initially I started off on rivers around the city then move into stillwaters and lochstyle disciplines all over Scotland. I then decided to try and make it vocational by attaining a HND in fish farming and fisheries management. It’s always been a constant in my life and always will; I find it just gives me time to relax and hit the reset button on whatever’s happening in life at that time. On leaving the Scots Guards and moving back home to Edinburgh I managed to get a job in the Orvis store and started learning more about teaching, casting and fly line characteristics. This is where I met my good friend Stewart, as his company Alba game fishing is an Orvis endorsed guide service. After fishing a couple of times with him, he asked if I wanted to start guiding for him, obviously I bit his arm off and now 10 years down the line and too many guests to count, I still look forward to doing it for many years to come.

Personally I love river fishing as it takes me back to when I started out and reminiscing of lessons learned from my late great uncle who taught me. Putting all these years of success and more importantly failure into practice to catch a wild fish is the pinnacle in my opinion. The enjoyment I get from Lochstyle is almost equally as good, the banter and camaraderie associated with the veterans team is second to none, inject a little competitive element and you have a day that’s hard to beat.

I have been lucky enough to get to the national final on a couple of occasions however never made the team, this is something I hope to achieve in the near future. Winning the veterans cup this year was an amazing personal achievement of mine and very proud to have done so in such a strong field of anglers.